Shooting Creek Farm wants to sell up to 10,000 barrels a year of original
ales and stouts.
By
381-1676
Floyd County's first microbrewery moved one step closer to opening
with Friday's news that the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control
has granted it a license.
But owners of the nascent Shooting Creek Farm
Brewery say they will wait to see whether neighbors and a pastor who contested
their license would appeal the ABC's decision.
"We're happy. But we definitely know
this is just another step toward opening," said brewery owner Brett
Nichols.
Nichols, his wife, Johanna, and neighbors Ray
Jones and Christine Blackburn applied in March for an ABC license to brew and
sell up to 10,000 barrels a year of original recipe stouts and ales for
off-premises consumption. Under such a license, patrons could each sample up 4
ounces of beer at a tasting room on the property.
Four neighbors and one pastor contested the
license. They are David Elliott, Jean and Paul Lacoste, Gloria Underwood and
the Rev. Warren Brown of Faith
Baptist Church
in Check. Brown and others even canvassed the neighborhood to discuss their
opposition to the brewery with other landholders.
They complained that it could increase the likelihood
of drunken driving along Thomas
Farm Road and that traffic could exacerbate blind
spots and other problems on the narrow gravel thoroughfare. Some neighbors also
objected to noise they said would be generated by visitors and commercial
traffic.
State law bans licensing an establishment
that makes or sells alcohol if it can be demonstrated that the business would
substantially interfere with the "peace and tranquility" of an area.
But Robert O'Neal, ABC's chief administrative
hearing officer, ruled that the objectors had not proven that Shooting Creek
would create a substantial enough disturbance.
The brewery is on a commercial organic farm
owned and operated by the Nicholses. Commercial traffic already goes through
that neighborhood, and a Virginia Department of Transportation study showed
that some increased traffic would not overburden the road, the ruling stated.
O'Neal further ruled that as part of the
license, Shooting Creek owners must construct a commercial vehicle entrance to
the brewery that conforms to state standards and must put up signs directing
brewery traffic to that entrance.
Nichols said he is willing to comply with
those conditions.
Brown said members of the opposition group
had yet to discuss Friday's ruling. But in previous discussions, some neighbors
had expressed the desire to press an appeal.
"Unless I'm told not to by residents on
the road, that's probably going to be our course of action," Brown said.
"This is a battle between what the
people want along that road and what I've called the pro-intoxication winery
people. They make their money by selling alcohol and getting people
intoxicated," he said.
The opposition has 30 days to file a notice
of intent to appeal Friday's ruling to the ABC Board in Richmond. Any ruling by that board can then
be appealed to circuit court.
